Wisconsin Magazine of History
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Wisconsin I Magazine of History Wisconsin Ethnic Group and the Election of 1890 ROGER E. WYMAN The Ordinance of 1787 JACK E. EBLEN The IWW and the S^estion of Violence JOSEPH R. CONLIN Published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin / Vol. 31, No. 4 / Summer, 1968 THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN LESLIE H. FISHEL, JR., Director Officers THOMAS H. BARLAND, President HERBERT V. KOHLER, Honorary Vice-President JOHN C. GEILFUSS, First Vice-President E. E. HoMSTAD, Treasurer CLIFFORD D. SWANSON, Second Vice-President LESLIE H. FISHEL, JR., Secretary Board of Curators Ex-Ojficio WARREN P. KNOWLES, Governor of the State HAROLD W. CLEMENS, State Treasurer ROBERT C. ZIMMERMAN, Secretary of State FRED H. HARRINGTON, President of the University MRS. EDWARD H. RIKKERS, President of the Women's Auxiliary Term Expires, 1968 MRS. HENRY BALDWIN KENNETH W. HAACENSEN MRS. WILLIAM H. L. SMYTHE FREDERICK N. TROWBRIDGE Wisconsin Rapids Oconomowoc Milwaukee Green Bay GEORGE BANTA, JR. ROBERT B. L. MURPHY WILLIAM F. STARK CEDRIC A. VIC Menasha Madison Pewaukee Rhinelander H. M. BENSTEAD FREDERIC E. RISSER MiLO K. SWANTON CLARK WILKINSON Racine Madison Madison Baraboo Term Expires, 1969 E. DAVID CRONON MRS. ROBERT E. FRIEND MRS. HOWARD T. GREENE J. WARD RECTOR Madison Hartland Genesee Depot Milwaukee SCOTT M. CUTLIP ROBERT A. GEHRKE BEN GUTHRIE CLIFFORD D. SWANSON Madison Ripon Lac Du Flambeau Stevens Point W. NORMAN FITZGERALD JOHN C. GEILFUSS WARREN D. LEARY, JR. Milwaukee Milwaukee Rice Lake Term Expires, 1970 THOMAS H. BARLAND MRS. EDWARD C. JONES HOWARD W. MEAD DONALD C. SLIGHTER Eau Claire Fort Atkinson Madison Milwaukee JIM DAN HILL MRS. RAYMOND J. KOLTES FREDERICK L OLSON DR. LOUIS C. SMITH Middleton Madison Wauwatosa Lancaster E. E. HOMSTAD CHARLES R. MCCALLUM F. HARWOOD ORBISON ROBERT S. ZIGMAN Black River Falls Hubertus Appleton Milwaukee Honorary Honorary Life Members JOHN C. JACQUES, Madison WILLIAM ASHBY MCCLOY, New London, Connecticut PRESTON E. MCNALL, Clearwater, Florida MRS. LITTA BASCOM, Berkeley, California DOROTHY L. PARK, Madison BENTON H. WILCOX, Madison Fellows VERNON CARSTENSEN MERLE CURTI ALICE E. SMITH The Women's Auxiliary Officers MRS. EDWARD H. RIKKERS, Madison, President MRS. GEORGE SWART, Fort Atkinson, Vice-President MRS. WILLIAM STARK, Nashotah, Treasurer MRS. CONRAD ELVEHJEM, Madison, Secretary MRS. WILLIAM H. L. SMYTHE, Milwaukee, Ex-Officio VOLVME 51, NUMBER 4 / SUMMER, 1968 Wisconsin Magazine of History WILLIAM CONVERSE HAYGOOD, Editor WILLIAM C. MARTEN, Associate Editor The News and Negro History 268 Wisconsin Ethnic Groups and the Election of 1890 269 ROGER E. WYMAN Origins of the United States Colonial System: The Ordinance of 1787 294 JACK E. EBLEN "The First Political Argument": An H. T. Webster Cartoon 315 The IWW and the Question of Violence 316 JOSEPH R. CONLIN Communications 327 Book Reviews 329 Bibliographical Notes 346 Accessions 348 Contributors 354 Published Quarterly by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published not assume responsibility for statements made by contribu quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, tors. Second-class postage paid at Madison and Stevens 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Distributed Point, Wis. Copyright 1968 by the State Historical Society to members as part of their dues (Annual membership of Wisconsin. Paid for in part by the Maria L. and Simeon $5.00; Family membership, $7.00; Contributing, $10; Busi Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. Burrows Fund. ness and Professional, $25 ; Sustaining, $100 or more annual Wisconsin newspapers may reprint any article appearing in ly; Patron, $1000 or more annually). Single numbers, $1.25 the WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY providing the Microfilmed copies available through University Microfilms story carries the following credit line: Reprinted from the 313 North First Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Communica^ State Historical Society's Wisconsin Magazine of History for tions should be addressed to the editor. The Society does [insert the season and year which appear on the Magazine]. The News and Negro History HE HISTORY of the Negro American society. Across the country, concerned citi T has something to say to those of us who zens are trying to persuade school boards, scan the news daily. It can provide a dimen administrators, and teachers that the history sion to the news which is now too faint for of black Americans should be integrated into us to discern, because news coverage is as American history and social studies courses. superficial as it is inclusive. The task is a formidable one. We are enveloped and educated by a mass The available textbooks do not do the job. media which skims the top of the news and In fact, some of them bend over backwards feeds it to us like tranquilizers, in capsule to avoid mentioning the Negro participant, form. Let a black militant speak for an hour except as a slave or an Uncle Tom. One and the news reports give us a sentence or 1968 textbook, by a distinguished historian, two. Let a study committee publish a report takes a few steps in the direction of integrated on riots or hunger or poverty, and the news history, but still overlooks such noteworthy reports condense it to a paragraph for us. events as the contributions of Negro soldiers, The columnists and "thought" magazines can Negro literary figures (particularly in the do little better, so intensive is the race for 1920's) and Negro protest groups. We need news space, so short-lived is our concentration integrated history at all levels, and since our span. school systems are heavily dependent upon It would be nice if the mass media pub textbooks, new texts are essential. lished fulsome reports and if we, the reading More than texts, though, we need teachers and viewing public, took the time to digest who are trained to use this material in the them. But this is not the way it is, nor will classroom and seek out additional informa it be. Most of us grab at a news story, shape tion (of which there is a plethora these days). it into preconceived patterns, reject what does Elementary school children should know about not fit, and go on to the next one. We de Negro cowboys and Negro poets. Junior high pend on our previous and continuing edu school children should know about the black cational experiences to put these news capsules clockmaker and almanacist, Benjamin Ban- into context, to fill in background gaps, to neker, who served on the committee which raise questions and seek out answers. But the designed our nation's capital and who once fact is that our educational experiences have urged President Thomas Jefferson to establish little relevance to the morning paper and a new cabinet post, a Secretary for Peace. evening newscast. High school students should be exposed to This irrelevance places an urgent and un the variety of biographies and historical stud recognized burden on our educational system ies now available on the Negro's role in the right now, kindergarten through high school. American experiment. Without teachers Unless the school experience supplies our trained to understand this participation and children with the tools to put news into proper eager to encourage students to learn about perspective, they will be less able than we it, another generation of adults will mature, to understand and respond to the news events unable to place in proper context the desperate of their adult lives. This burden seems al striving of a beleaguered minority of Amer most greater than our educational system's ican citizens. ability to cope with it. From aspiring Asia to the dollar struggle, from presidential aspir It is not easy to predict what news story ants to the struggling poor, the areas of news will grip the nation tomorrow or the day after. significance seem to quantify geometrically. But certain basic issues have emerged over Each one calls for classroom attention and the decades which deserve serious attention each is adaptable to what educators call the in the classrooms, as problems with deep his "conceptual approach," teaching by identify torical roots. Unless our children and grand ing the process behind a series of events or children are able to identify the roots, they a random collection of data. will be carried along on the surface of the daily news, truly unable to carry their most Of all the news areas which engulf us, one important national responsibility—that of be stands out because it has been with us for ing informed citizens. over three hundred years. It is about time that we came to grips with the Negro Amer ican's contribution to and role in American L.H.F., Jr. 268 WISCONSIN ETHNIC GROUPS AND THE ELECTION OF 1890 By ROGER E. WYMAN HE BENNETT LAW CONTROVERSY of system of parochial education. As a result, T 1889-1890 was one of the most exciting in the election of 1890, a unified German and chapters in Wisconsin's colorful political his Catholic vote handed the Wisconsin Republi tory. The furor over this law, a seemingly in can party its worst defeat until 1932; and in nocuous child labor and compulsory education 1892 the lingering emotions among the law's act which also stipulated that certain subjects opponents enabled a Democratic presidential had to be taught in the English language, candidate to carry the state for the first time created a brief but major upheaval in Wiscon since 1852. sin politics, and the debris left in its wake Wisconsin has long been known for its large cast a shadow over the political life of the foreign population, particularly its sizable Ger state for a decade. man contingent in Milwaukee and surrounding The ethnic and religious antagonisms that areas.